What most Engineers lack!

Engineering is a challenging career, not only for those who are/were academically weak or people who are not passionate about solving real world problems through electrical, civil, mechanical or other engineering disciplines’ intriguing practices. As a student, I, at times, feel that subjects like Mathematics, Physics etc do not have real world applications. Average engineering students, like me, assumes that once we graduated from reputed engineering institutes, all the hardships will come to an end and we will be perfect of engineering concepts and knowledge. But soon after starting careers, most realize that their academic education was just the beginning.
Rightly said by Carl Selinger in his book, ‘Stuff You Don’t Learn In Engineering School’,“Soon after starting their careers, most realize that their academic education was just the beginning”

Whenever I think of enhancing my technical competencies, I generally rely on readily available sources: class lectures, books, websites etc. These sources help in learning technical theories, methods and tools required for enhancing technical abilities. But there are other subjects as well, generally which are not taught in engineering institutes. These subjects are as important as any other core engineering subjects. These includes

Communication and Interpersonal Competencies

Leadership Qualities

Business Skills

Professional Development Planning

Deficiencies in these areas can’t be solved overnight. Even the brightest engineers, after realizing the importance of all these competencies, find it makes their heads spin. They often don’t know where to start and don’t know how to go about developing these abilities.